“The World Bank presidency should not be an apprenticeship”

“What .. does Obama’s choice tell us about the sincerity of his feminist rhetoric? Does he draw the line wherever it suits him? In fact, if Obama and his advisers could not stomach Okonjo-Iweala on the ground that she is not American, surely they could have nominated an American woman who was also vastly superior to Kim for the job.” Suggesting that Laura Tyson, who chaired the President’s Council of Economic Advisers under Bill Clinton, or Lael Brainard, who is now Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs would have been a better choice.

He goes on to add “.. it is the rapid acceleration of economic growth in the major emerging countries that has reduced poverty, not only directly, through jobs and higher incomes, but also by generating the revenues governments need to undertake the public-health, education, and other programs that sustain poverty reduction – and growth – in the long term. India followed this path. So did Brazil’s former president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – after the reforms undertaken by his predecessor produced the revenues that could then be spent on programs to aid the poor further.”

2 thoughts on ““The World Bank presidency should not be an apprenticeship””

Other than Felix Salmon, why is the angry anti-Kim gang so elderly? Is the economist cabal angry that there’s never been an economist as president of the World Bank, and now that two are nominated, an insider and someone whom DSK defeated at the IMF after a public campaign, a doctor who gets results on the ground will be appointed?